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Power Minister R K Singh has said that power deficit or gap between electricity required and supplied has fallen from 2 per cent to 0.1 per cent between April and October, 2022, primarily on account of various steps taken by the government. The data showed that the deficit was 2,752 million units (units) in April this year which came down to 124 MU in October, 2022. The power deficit was 609 MU (0.4 per cent) in May, 796 MU (0.6 per cent) in June, 434 MU (0.3 per cent) in July, 465 MU (0.4 per cent) in August and 312 MU (0.2 per cent) in September.

The minister stated that as on March 31, 2022, the coal stock position was 25.6 Million Tonnes (MT), or 9 days of stock, and it increased to 26.1 MT on September 30, 2022 and further increased to 30.9 MT, or 11 days of stock, as on November 30, 2022. The coal stock available at coal-based thermal power plants of the country is monitored by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) on a daily basis. He also noted that as on November 30, 2022, there are 75 plants (56 per cent) out of 180 plants are having coal stock of less than 8 days as per their consumption pattern.

Singh said according to the draft National Electricity Plan published in 2022 by CEA, the projected new coal capacity addition requirement during the period 2022-32 is 35,014 MW, which includes under-construction coal-based capacity totalling to 25,580 MW. He also stated that the CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) from 2021-22 to 2026-27 for electrical energy requirement is 6.67 per cent and for peak electricity demand is 6.42 per cent.